“Young and Alive” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Young and Alive” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Betsy Rose.
Tune: Betsy Rose.
There’s not much to do in a suburban town.
Me and my friends are just waiting
For something to happen to shake up our lives.
It’s mostly the boredom I’m hating.
It’s school all the day, and it’s TV at night.
My parents and teachers all say,
In the big game of life, the future is mine.
But what if I don’t want to play?
My big sister, Annie, she marched in the streets,
And my brother resisted the draft.
I remember at night how I’d listen in bed
To their friends. How they argued and laughed!
Oh, those were the times to be young and alive.
I wish I’d been with them back then.
It seems like there’s nothing left worth fighting for:
No battles left for me to win.
My best friend, Jill, is getting strung out on pills.
She started with uppers last fall.
We used to be close. Now, I look in her eyes
And don’t know if she’s in there at all.
And a couple of boys got killed just this spring,
Driving drunk down a busy thoroughfare.
They weren’t close to me, but I knew them enough
To know that they didn’t much care.
Oh, Annie, my sister, you’ve seen more than me.
Tell me why does this world seem so wrong.
I’m just seventeen, and I don’t want to die
From drugs or bad driving or bombs.
And you had the time to be young and alive.
I wish I’d been with you back then.
At least you had something left worth fighting for
And battles you thought you could win.
A girl down the hall put a sign on the wall
And called a meeting about nuclear war.
She said we’re the ones who can stop it for good.
But I know that they’ve tried that before.
And I don’t like meetings, don’t like joining crowds,
And none of my friends want to go.
But I’m thinking that a meeting was where Annie found
All those good friends she had long ago.
It may be too late to be young and alive.
Did it all really end way back then?
It seems like there’s nothing left worth fighting for
Since a nuclear war means the end.
There’s not much to do in a suburban town:
Just kids hanging out, getting high.
But Jill said she’d go to the meeting with me,
And my friends said they’d maybe drop by.
And maybe there’s time to be young and alive.
Maybe it’s worth fighting for.
Maybe my sister will march by my side.
And maybe we’ll stop the big war.